Paris — Christie’s Books department is extremely pleased with the success achieved for the first part of Paul Destribats’s collection (607 lots dating from the 1910s to 1945) which realised a total of €8,116,813, far beyond its presale global estimate of €5-7 million. International interest with buyers coming from 20 countries confirms the exceptional and unique character of this collection in the history of art.
New York — The Pride Sale at Swann Galleries on Thursday, June 20 offered a curated selection of LGBTQ+ art, photography, literature, autographs and ephemera from the past 200 years, with many first-time appearances on the market. The sale was a resounding success with 75% of the lots finding buyers, bringing a total of $950,833.
New York — Swann Galleries continued the spring 2019 season with a sale of American Art on June 13, which boasted three artist records.
American Modernists were standouts in the sale with two of the three records: Attilio Salemme’s 1945 oil on canvas painting Rivalry, at $21,250, and Nautical Composition with an Anchor, oil on board, by Joseph Lambert Cain, at $11,250. Suzy Frelinghuysen’s Cubist-inspired oil and collage work, Act Three, 1942 reached $40,000, and Esphyr Slobodkina’s Abstract Composition, gouache on board, circa 1940s earned $8,450.
Boston — An extremely rare signed photograph of Neil Armstrong taking his ‘giant leap for mankind ’ sold for $52,247 according to Boston-based RR Auction.
Fifty years ago, on July 20, 1969, the Apollo 11 Lunar Module 'Eagle' touched down on the surface of the moon. Astronaut Neil Armstrong descended the spacecraft's ladder and spoke his immortal words: 'That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.' Buzz Aldrin soon followed behind him, and the two became the first earthly beings to set foot upon another celestial body.
New York – “There was strong bidding across the board and it’s hard not to be pleased with the general outcome of the sale,” said Maps & Atlases Specialist, Caleb Kiffer of Swann Galleries June 6 sale of Maps & Atlases, Natural Science & Color Plate Books which saw an 84% sell-through rate. Highlights included rare cartographic publications by Lewis Evans and Petrus Plancius, as well as color plate books by John Fisk Allen and Willian Sharp.
New York – A fine first edition, early presentation copy of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection sold for $500,075, a world auction record for a presentation copy of Darwin's On the Origin of Species, at Bonhams Fine Books and Manuscripts sale in New York on June 13. It had been estimated at $200,000-300,000. The 302-lot sale achieved a total of $1,270,890 and was sold 85% by lot and 94% by value.
New York – On June 5-13, Christie’s brought to auction an archive of over 50 letters from the acclaimed Canadian poet, singer-songwriter, and novelist Leonard Cohen (1934-2016) to his most famous muse, the inspiration for the song "So Long, Marianne," Marianne Ihlen. The first ever online auction for the New York Books & Manuscripts department totaled $876,000, selling 100 % by lot and 100% by value.
New York – On June 12, the Christie’s New York Summa de Arithmetica: The Birth of Modern Business and the Spring Fine Books and Manuscripts Including Americana auctions achieved a total of $4,693,750. The dedicated single-lot sale for Luca Pacioli’s Summa de Arithmetica (1447-1517) realized $1,215,000 after two minutes of competitive bidding between the telephones and the room.
New York — Illustration Art at Swann Galleries on June 4 saw a bustling auction room with bidding wars delivering strong prices: “I was extremely pleased with the collector participation in all subject areas of the sale, but Broadway legends stole the show today, as it were, with two outstanding Hirschfelds and the Mielziner,” said Illustration Specialist Christine von der Linn.
Dallas, TX – The very first original cover art featuring the beloved comic character Tintin, Hergé’s The Adventures of Tintin Vol. 1: Tintin in the Land of the Soviets, sold for more than $1.12 million by Heritage Auctions on Saturday, June 8, in a sale of European Comic Art held in Dallas, Texas.
